Wikipedia

Seana McKenna

Seana McKenna CM (born 15 August 1956) is a Canadian actress primarily associated with stage roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

Seana McKenna in 2016

Background

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Seana McKenna was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada,[1][2] where as a student she played Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest and Isabella in Women Beware Women by Thomas Middleton.[3]

Stratford Shakespeare Festival

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McKenna has played over 40 stage roles over the course of 36 years at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and major ones from very early on, specializing since the 2000s in strong-willed women but also mesmerizing as an actress looking very different from one role to another.[4][5] 2013 was her 26th season: She played Queen Elizabeth I in Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart directed by Antoni Cimolino and Madame Arcati in Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit directed by Brian Bedford. She is directing Twelfth Night for the 2024 season.[6]

Roles in other companies

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She has also played leading roles in many other major houses across Canada, including the title role in Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare (Centaur Theatre), Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams (Grand Theatre, London), The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe by Jane Wagner (Belfry Theatre, Neptune Theatre, National Arts Centre, Manitoba Theatre Centre/MTC), Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (Theatre New Brunswick), Eliza Dollitle in Pygmalion and the title role in Candida by George Bernard Shaw (Shaw Festival), Medea by Euripides and Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen (MTC), Blanche Dubois again at MTC, Wit by Margaret Edson at the Canadian Stage Company,[7] Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams at the Manitoba Theatre Centre and Royal Alexandra Theatre, Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley at the Canadian Stage Company, Phèdre by Jean Racine (American Conservatory Theater), and The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Belfry Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, and National Arts Centre).[8][9][10][11]

Films and TV

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Mckenna has also acted in a few films and television, including the 1997 film The Hanging Garden, in which she won a Genie Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well at filmed Stratford productions: Twelfth Night (1986, King John (2015), and Hamlet (2016)

Personal life

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She married director Miles Potter, and they have one son, Callan, born in 1998.

Stratford Shakespeare Festival credits

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DVDs, CDs, Audiobooks, Video clips

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References

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  1. ^ http://www.ent-nts.ca/en/programs/acting/alumni.aspx NTS acting alumni
  2. ^ http://www.ent-nts.ca/journal/j23p06_alumni.htm NTS alumni outreach
  3. ^ Women beware women. Program notes: Montreal, Quebec, National Theatre School of Canada, 1979
  4. ^ Stratford Shakespeare Festival Visitors' Guides from 1982 to 2012. Stratford, Ontario, Canada
  5. ^ "Stratford Festival".
  6. ^ "Twelfth Night | Stratford Festival Official Site". Stratford Festival. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
  7. ^ Regarded as one of the best acting performances of 2001: Glenn Sumi, Wit star Seana McKenna makes a good play great. NOW, March 1, 2001. Retrieved 2016-07-15. McKenna received a Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for her performance.
  8. ^ http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=McKenna%2C%20Seana Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
  9. ^ http://www.act-sf.org/0910/phedre/ American Conservatory Theater production of Phèdre
  10. ^ http://www.tarragontheatre.com/season/1011/magicalthinking/ Tarragon Theatre production of The Year of Magical Thinking
  11. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pQhCi85Oew Video excerpt of Tarragon Theatre production of The Year of Magical Thinking
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